Tip leads TBI to exhume Pauline Pusser’s body 5 decades after shooting

MCNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — More than five decades after Pauline Pusser was shot and killed in an ambush likely meant for her husband — Sheriff Buford Pusser — a recent tip has led to a new development in the unsolved case.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, detectives learned that an autopsy was never performed on Pauline Pusser’s body after the tip led them to review the case file.

Who killed Pauline Pusser? Search continues for killer of TN sheriff’s wife, 56 years later

With support from her family, and in consultation with 25th Judicial District Attorney General Mark Davidson, the TBI requested the exhumation of her body in an attempt to answer “critical questions and provide crucial information” in the case.

The TBI believes that information could lead to the identification of the person or persons responsible for Pauline Pusser’s death on August 12, 1967, in McNairy County. TBI agents were at the Adamsville Cemetery on Thursday, Feb. 8 to oversee the exhumation.

No further information was immediately released. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has routinely continued to review the case since agents were called in to investigate nearly 56 years ago. Detectives had just renewed their call for tips on the anniversary of the shooting in 2023.

The case has gained notoriety due to her husband’s reputation as a no-nonsense sheriff whose life story inspired the movie Walking Tall (1973) and its two sequels. Two historical markers still pinpoint the spots where Pauline and Sheriff Buford Pusser were ambushed.

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The first can be found on Sticine Road near the Tennessee and Mississippi state line, where on Aug. 12, 1967, a car reportedly drove up beside the couple and began firing. The sheriff sped off down the road and stopped two miles south to check on his wife’s injuries.

However, while stopped, the assailant’s car came back into sight and started firing into the sheriff’s car again. This time, Pauline was shot in the head and died. Buford was shot in the face and suffered severe bone and tissue damage that left his face permanently disfigured.

According to the TBI, there have been several rumors about who could have been behind the shootings that killed his wife, but no one has ever been arrested.

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